The 2023 Malaysian Open Championship was won by Grandmaster Vitaly Sivuk of Sweden. Four players tied for first place with 7 out of 9 points, but the incumbent champion of Sweden won owing to superior Buchholz tie break.
The 18th Malaysian Chess Festival, financed by the FIDE Aid Package, took place in Kuala Lumpur from August 25 to September 3. Among the competitions on the festival schedule was the Malaysian Open Championship, a nine-round Swiss tournament with classical time control that drew 139 participants (nine grandmasters).
The competition was a nail-biter that came down to the wire. Grandmaster Mitrabha Guha of India was a half-point ahead of Sivuk heading into the final ninth round, but a big group of players trailed the leader by a full point. Guha needed only a draw to seal his place as the Champion.
Unfortunately for Guha, he was defeated by his countryman, Deepan Chakkravarthy, and let three players to come up to him. In the end, only 2.5 Buchholz points separated the champion (Sivuk) from the runner-up (Guha), with Aditya Bagus Arfan (Indonesia) finishing third and Deepan Chakkravarthy finishing fourth.
A wide group of players finished fifth with 6.5 out of 9.